What is Your Design Style?

I can pretty much pinpoint the moment I realised I’d grown out of my decorating style. It was November last year, and I’d found myself obsessed with the Living With Kids house tours on the Design Mom blog. One in particular caught my eye – and suddenly I wondered if I was due for a change.

My nemesis was chrome and glass. I loathed glass bricks with the fire of a thousand suns. Still do.

And yet – here I was eyeing off boxy sofas, modern tables, black accents. Current fashions. Not a velvet drape to be seen.

I filed this amazingly light, modern-yet-feminine house away in my mind (and on Pinterest) and thought no more about it.

Until I found this house. This crazy-cool house stood out among the sea of mid-century modern houses that had flooded the internet (or at least the blogs I was reading). I could dothis kitchen. I could be slightly off-centre. I’ve never liked a curated house so much before or since.

Where was the house that showed my personality? Oprah said your home should rise up to greet you, and my house was running screaming in the opposite direction. Everything in the house was vintage and while that was my jam for a long time, I could see I’d finally outgrown it.

Except my antique books, you can pry those from my cold, dead hands.

When I started searching for houses to move to in Melbourne, I looked at brand-new townhouses, where the laundry wasn’t growing science experiments, a clean bench would actually look clean, and the bathroom would shine.

And then I spotted this little number and my heart skipped a beat. No white walls, no mod cons, no chrome taps. Just wallpaper, chandeliers, plush pink carpet and a peach-and-gold spa. Everything I would have dreamed about six months before, and not a white wall to be seen.

And while I love it, and my nanna furniture fit right in, I need white walls so I can do this.

My style has changed, and I’m so surprised. I thought it would never evolve.

I was invited to take the Porter Davis World of Style Quiz to help me narrow down what my new design type would be. You can bet I was dumbfounded to see my style was Classic.

Say what?!

Didn’t I just move on from that? My answers mostly revolved around choosing images that looked like this:

But when I was at the World of Style showroom for our blogger briefing, I had a look through their “Classic” collections. It began to make sense.

I could see I clearly didn’t fit the other three categories of Resort, Contemporary, and Designer. I love a good Hamptons kitchen, and there were plenty of Classic elements that would work for me. Plus, my favourite homewares colour is eleven shades of brown, so it kind of actually made perfect sense.

I wouldn’t say no to that getup.

During the blogger briefing, we heard from the very passionate Porter Davis senior designer Catherine Valente, who told us the story of the World of Style showroom and how hard they had worked to make visiting the store a full experience, not just a place to choose a tap.

When I mentioned I was surprised my quiz results were Classic, she took one look at me and talked about incorporating New York decorating influences. She hadn’t asked me a single thing, but totally nailed that the Manhattan/New York style was where I was headed.

Yep.

We took look around the showroom, sipping coffee from the in-house café, drooling over walk-in pantries, thoroughly impressed by the way options were presented. No colour gradient cardboard paint choices for you – they have a handmade wall of actual paintbrushes dipped in the actual paint available.

Clever, non?

Want carpet? No need to heave those giant rug samples around! Come check out a thoroughly modern way of choosing where to put your feet.

And if, like me, you’re going for big, bold, and out-of-the-ordinary, check out this envy-inducing city-at-night living room backdrop. I WANT.

You can keep up with World of Style on their Facebook page, where they post daily doses of inspiration and modern designer tips.

And if you’re looking for a homewares display like no other, head to the World of Style showroom (it’s the largest in Australia!) and pick some stuff that is the ultimate expression of who you are. World of Style is located at 410 City Road, Southbank, Vic. Tell them I said hi and go lovingly stroke that city backdrop for me.

But I want to know – what’s your design choice? Has it ever evolved? Take the quiz and come back to tell me where you ended up. Beachy Resort? Arty Designer? Were you as surprised as me with your answer?

I’m gonna do this later, fo’ sure (I am not even meant to be online at the moment, ahem…). My design style is heavily inspired by Apartment Therapy. I’m a tad obsessed. Think eclectic with some mid-century touches, massive music billboard posters all through the house and lots of cool op-shop finds. I’m not gonna lie. Everyone that comes here loves my house. I think I overcompensate on the inside because I live in a crappy little weatherboard cottage.

I have NFI. LOL. Not saying that my short term memory is bad or anything, but I can’t actually remember, possibly because my children were trying to forcibly drag away me from the computer and clouding my decisions with guilt.

That quiz said classic but I don’t think so. I’d say rainbow with a bit wood would best describe me. Nothing goes together I just get stuff I like.
I’m in a stage of wanting to burn my house to the ground so I can start again but I’m told that’s illegal so I’ll just paint walls & move shit around.

HAHA! Imagine cleaning the rubble. I think Classic can be interpreted in so many different ways, it’s so broad. I was legit surprised, but then realised they were pretty accurate. I love how you’re being so colourful these days, I kiiiiind of want to do that.

I am slowly getting rid of all the warm, earthy tones that are in my house & replacing them with brights. It’s fun but a slow process because I’m one of those fools who cannot get rid of something that still works/functions perfectly well just because my style/taste has changed. It’s annoying.

One I have is thick, kinda like a quilt but the others are thin & light. We still throw them over ourselves when there’s a chill but they are no good on cold nights. They are easy to throw in a bag & take out & wash really easily.

I need this. My design style is a jumble of all the things I love, but I love Hamptons and I love French Prov and Ecclectic and I seem to love, love IKEA and the side of the road isn’t off limits either. Help! I’m going to do the quiz thingy and then I’ll come back and tell you what I got… stay tuned… breath held… wait now… patience…

Ooh, fancy! I think contemporary is the most eclectic. I kind of thought that’s what I’d get – half that, half Designer. Definitely not Resort! Although I wouldn’t say no to a Greek Islands holiday, no siree bob.

Hi Stacey, I loved this post. I took the quiz and it got my current style exact….. I used to be a country girl in decor and while I still love my country music my decor style has changed over the years. I’m a classic girl who’s been recommended Bordeaux France, champagne France, classic Hamptons or Venice by the quiz and interestingly that’s exactly where my love of decor is, anything French with a hint of beachiness….. Would love to visit the world of style showroom but I’m in w.a so it’s something I’ll have to do when I get to Melbourne. Thanks for the great post I loved it……. Oh and btw is very normal for your style to change every few years or so mwah xo

Oh so European, Michelle! How awesome! Have a baguette. I think you would totally love the showroom, it’s set out so well. I’ve never felt like renovating anything in my entire life, but I was so tempted when I was there! They put so much work into making it such a cool place to hang. I love that you love country music!

It could be dangerous for me to visit the show room then as I may never leave as I love revamping anything I can get my hands on lol….. Oh a baguette, now there’s an idea hehe….. Oh yes I’ve been a big country music girl for a long time now, can never get enough of it. I love the fact you chose a place with wall paper, chandeliers and pink carpet as opposed to something quite modern and streamline xo

I got ‘classic’ too. What? Pft. Psht. Whatevs Trevs. I’m doing that thing again… In the meantime I’m white and wood and comfy textiles obsessed. Partly because I like it, partly because it’s what I like within the boundaries of what I can afford. One thing I realised awhile ago is that my house/garden/wardrobe/etc will probably always be a compromise and never *really me* because *really me* would take money that I’ve instead decided to devote to things like food and electricity and chocolate. And cushions.

Great post! I loved Laura’s colour choice for her house, and could not believe how much it brightened that dark hole that it was before her magic touch. I chose a similar colour for my bathroom and I’m so glad I did.

I loved the idea of the paintbrushes too. I couldn’t get the quiz to work for me. Bummer.